PREVALENCE OF FOODBORNE PATHOGENS IN RURAL PIGS AND IN DERIVED COLD PORK MEATS

The “rural” breeding of one or two pigs and their domestic slaughtering is a significant reality in the Veneto Region, as a consequence of an ancient tradition still surviving in the countryside. The present paper evaluates the hygienic conditions during slaughtering and processing, and the prevalence of foodborne pathogens both in live animals and in derived food, mainly sausages, salami and cold pork meats. The research underlines that, in main cases, the products derived from rural pigs are safe, if HACCP principles and good hygienic practices during slaughtering and processing are used. The presence of Listeria spp. in some products is probably derived from cross contaminations, not appropriate hygienic conditions, uncorrected salt percentage in the recipe, seasoning conditions: time, temperature, humidity...